Just Like That, Bristol and Levi Split (Again)

South-central Alaska's golden couple is once again kaput. Tuesday
afternoon, Bristol Palin confirmed
to People Magazine that she and on-again/off-again squeeze Levi
Johnston were off again, this time for good (probably). The news comes
just two weeks after Palin and Johnston graced
the magazine's cover and discussed the details of their upcoming
wedding. With Bristol and baby Tripp moving back in with the Palins,
voices from around the Internet weighed in on the demise of Bristol-Levi
2.0.

Winners & Losers Salon's Christine
Mathias says the split is a "tick in the 'win' column for Sarah
Palin." The same cannot be said for Kathy Griffin, who Mathias predicts
will soon be on the receiving end of a "drunken late-night call from
Levi asking to sleep on her couch."

It Could Have Been Camelot
Politics Daily columnist Donna
Trussell is no Sarah Palin fan, but admits she feels a twinge of
sadness at the news. "In a strange way, I consider the Palins my
people," she writes. "I'm a fifth-generation Texan, and Texas is almost
the same as Alaska -- big, brash, trigger-happy and ready for secession
at the mere whisper of insult to our manhood (or womanhood)." Hopefully,
Trussell writes, the couple will patch things up. "I want to see what
ends up on the wedding table."

The Lesson "I got played" was what
Bristol told People regarding the reason for the break-up, a statement New
York Magazine's Chris
Rovzar believes adequately sums up the lessons of the Bristol/Levi
epoch. Therein lies the final lesson, would-be teen moms everywhere
wondering whether you should accede to your boyfriend's demands for
unprotected sex," writes Rovzar. "He is going to play you. In every way
that a person can be played."

Don't Bet Against the Backslide The
Washington Post's Alexandra
Petri, for one, doesn't think America's heard the last of the
Bristol-Levi coupling. The etiquette of modern celebrity culture compels them to give it another shot.

Our religion of
celebrity-worship falls right into the pattern. Larger-than-life figures
supply us with the same comfortable narratives, over and over again.
Rumors that Brad and Jen are back together? Must be April. Brad and
Angie stronger than before? Yup, it's November. Bristol and Levi have
figured out their place in the cycle. Next summer -- mark my words --
they'll be back together.